1/6 scale wooden furniture. Premade furniture, at that. I'd been getting sick of building miniature furniture so I was super pleased to get my order from Butterly Family and just bung it straight in the doll house! I wanted a room to showcase all my 'cute' miniatures, from Sanrio to My Little Pony to the tiny little Polly Pocket I bought last year, and this seemed just the ticket. The doll house wardrobe (£24) and the two side bookcases (£11 each) are absolutely adorable, and I also got two short window cabinets (£15 each) and a chest of drawers (£13).
The furniture fit in perfectly with my spray painted Sindy dressing table and the bunkbed I got ages ago from Furniture For Dolls. I couldn't fit both short cabinets in so I made a little foam mattress and cover for the bottom bunk, meaning I could wedge the cabinet into place to use the space as a day bed / reading nook. Sindy's wardrobe drawers even fit nicely under the bed for some extra storage. :)
Post and Packing: £15 from Poland. Shipping was pretty quick and everything was very well packaged.
Moose Toys new #FAILFIX doll line has hit retailers! Don't get me wrong, I'm as much of a sucker for blind boxing as the next collector - but it is good to see somebody other than Mattel attempting to be more innovative with their playline dolls.
The concept isn't perfect: why are girls always being told they have to fix themselves? Rock whatever look you like. And they haven't dropped the blind box element entirely; the website blurb says you might find a rare or ultra-rare outfit or make-up look. But it is something different and I like the explicit focus on hairplay and redressing. I'm looking forward to seeing some in hand reviews on how well the 'fix' features work. :)
Laser cut wooden furniture for 1/6, 1/4, and 1/3 scales. I just had to get the 1/6 scale IKEA corner MICKE desk (£44); I have the same one in the spare room / home office (where the doll house lives) so it was too cute an opportunity to pass up. I'm going for a bit of a Life on Mars vibe in the diorama, complete with crime writing wall and lots of bookcases. It's still very much a work in progress at the moment!
The desk went together very easily and gave me the confidence to order something more ambitious - a 1/7 scale loft bed with built in desk. I couldn't work out where to start with this one though and, in the end, I got my dad to put it together for me. This room is basically to showcase miniature retro consoles and computers, so I really like how the space is starting to shape up now the bed is in place. :)
Barbie has been President - or, at the very least, a Presidential candidate, numerous times over the years. Read on for her full electoral history...
2020
Barbie is going all out for the 2020 election with a four doll pack, representing Barbie as President, campaign manager, fundraiser, and a voter. It's nice to see a mix of skin tones and body types within the pack, and for all its thoroughly playline the clothing looks plenty versatile. And, to be honest, who doesn't think an inanimate lump of plastic couldn't do a better job than the guy actually in office at this point?
Go Vote. Go Run. Go Lead. Go, Girl! So encouraged Barbie in her 2004 presidential campaign, ready for action in her stylish new pantsuit and neck scarf.
After taking a break in '96, Barbie was back on the campaign trail in 2000 packaged with placards and flyers, and a pair of fancy red shoes and matching ball gown to (presumably) represent how her policies might flip flop once she gained power...
There were also Democratic National Convention dolls.
1996
No doll this year, but there was a 'cool career' president fashion pack.
1992
Barbie first embarked upon her presidential career in 1992 with a smart day suit and, er, flamboyant night look. She also came packaged with a campaign button for her new owner.
The USA is not the only nation to be convinced by Barbie's ticket. In 2013 Germany had an exclusive I Can Be... Chancellor doll, building on the one of a kind Angela Merkel Barbie which proved a hit at the 2009 Nuremberg toy fair.
I didn't bother giving this post an adjective like 'craziest' or whatever because, well, if you've ever seen Totally TV you'll know that every moment is an 11 on the crazy-ometer. If you haven't seen it, all you need to know is that it's a YouTube channel for kids featuring adults dressed up as Disney princess and villains to act out [insane] plot lines, and take part in [bizarre] YouTube challenges.
Marianna has been obsessed with it on and off since discovering it last year, and right now Bing and Midge have been all but forgotten in favour of endless vids about Princess X getting tricked into almost marrying Villain Y. They play other characters too, including their own original series The SuperPops, but you've got to draw the line somewhere.
(Lack of OTT Disney villain is where my line is at!)
Anyway, here are five aspects I found I couldn't hate thanks to the sheer brilliance of their scripted insanity...
#5. Clone Wars
It's just a regular day in Totally TV Land when Gaston comes up with a cunning plan to make Belle his wife. By cloning her with a magical rubber chicken stolen from Maleficent's cave, obviously. Unfortunately LeFou's aim isn't as great as Gaston's, and the chicken hits Rapunzel instead of Belle. The boys do their best to salvage the situation and train Newpunzel to be the perfect girlfriend to make Belle jealous - and realise what she's missing out on.
Except it turns out that Newpunzel is secretly evil and soon forms her own clone army with which to take over the world! Will Maleficent put down this rebellion in time to keep her crown of evil?? (Spoiler: she totally will.) Gaston is continually attempting to trick Belle into marrying him, but this one is so out there it manages to leave LeFou's totally-real-and-not-at-all-made-up long distance girlfriend subplot as the weirdest aspect of the episode... It should at least be a made up boyfriend - there is little enough LGBTQ+ rep from Disney as it is, without erasing one of the few pieces of confirmed canon.
#4. Fire!
I'm not entirely sure what I find so amusing about Jafar's (aka J.Far's) catchphrase... It doesn't stop me embarrassing Marianna by repeating it at every available opportunity though.
#3. On The Other Hans
By far the best thing about Totally TV is Hans and his beloved sideburns. Miles Allen is a pretty accomplished impersonator who did a worldwide tour with his One Man Breaking Bad show a few years back - that translates into some snort out loud funny performances as he attempts to 'charm' the princesses into marriage.
(Typical conversation starter: Today is your lucky day, ladies! One of you is going to marry me and the bidding starts at just $1 million.)
This guy is almost enough to make up for the terrible American accent Marianna insists on doing when she plays out this show with her dolls. Almost.
#2. Christmas Wrap Battle
The villains challenge the princesses to a rap battle at the local mall... Neglecting to correct their assumption about the nature of the [w]rapping! That doesn't stop the princesses from spitting some 'dope rhymes' like Elsa's:
"I'm the coolest of the cool and the coldest of the cold / I don't need a prince to save me because I broke the mould."
Hans was still robbed though.
"You'll get over it and if you don't, who cares? / I'm too busy brushing my sideburn hair."
#1. Back To The Future
Villainous shenanigans see the princesses living out their nightmare futures. Ariel has to play babysitter to Ursula and Prince Eric's offspring. Elsa is married to her 'Hansband' Hans, bringing up their daughter Little Hans. ("Hans," so he tells us, "is a strong name for boys and girls alike.")
Meanwhile Belle is married to Gaston and, er, loving life with her three adorable triplets: Gaston Junior, Gaston Junior Junior, and Egg.
Have you ever seen Totally TV? Let me know in the comments! :)
Absolutely amazing retro style tailored clothing for Barbie sized dolls. I bought a little top (£6), capri pants (£13), a blue pleated dress (£24), and a floral halterneck dress for a curvy Barbie doll (£24). You can check out more of their wonderful work on their instagram. :)
I wanted these as some show pieces for my room set ups and I'm so thrilled with the fit and the quality. There are tiny buttons, interior linings, belts, buckles, and even working pockets in the capri pants. I love it all so much I can't even decide which piece is my favourite! It's definitely a store I'll be going back to...
Supplier: Wooden Tales Workshop Website:Etsy Store Products:
I decided it was time to give the 1/6 scale house a bit of an overhaul so I sold on a lot of Re-ment and other stuff and ordered a load of flat pack furniture. This was pretty adventurous for me because, well, I'm not good with full scale flat packs and this only promised to be more frustrating. For the most part, thankfully, it was straightforward. Except for the corner wardrobe unit. The air was very blue whilst that was going together, and the less said about the state of the sides you can't see the better!
But, finally, we're at the stage where it only needs a few little paint touch-ups and the drawer handles glued on. (The bottom drawer of the dresser is actually open not badly fitting, btw.) I'm going to raise the legs of the Sindy bed a bit too to bring it more into scale. Every time I look at it I can see all my mistakes in building but, overall, I'm very happy with how it looks and how much space there now is for displaying some of my favourite miniatures.
The units were about £18 each and I also bought a selection of super cute laser cut ELC style wooden train sets for £25. I haven't got around to painting those yet - or setting up the baby's room they'll be going in...
Post and Packing: About £6 or free if you spend over $100.
